Care
by Atladore
Summary: How will Harry Potter grow up with a caring aunt and uncle? What will change and what will stay the same?


**Summery: How will Harry Potter grow up with a caring aunt and uncle? What will change and what will stay the same?**

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Harry Potter**

**Dudley's birthday**

Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursley's had been woken up by an old man who brought their nephew to them and it looked like Privet Drive had hardly changed in all those years. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the same brass number four on the Dursley's front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Harry arrived to live with them. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece showed the changes that time has brought them. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of Dudley Dursley but he was no longer the only child in house. The new photographs showed two boys. They showed a blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The other boy had black hair and the pictures showed him watching television with his aunt, swimming with his uncle and cooking in the kitchen with a big smile on his face. They looked like a happy family and they really were.

Harry rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before. But like always the dream started to fade as he started to wake. With a sigh he reaches for his new glasses. It was Dudley's birthday today; he had promised his aunt that he would prepare all the food today. It was part of his gift to the boy he thought of as a brother. Dudley really liked his cooking. Looking at the chair in front of his window he saw that his aunt had already put down the clothes he should wear today. He couldn't wait for the day to start for they would be going to the zoo today.

When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. His aunt and uncle never told him but he thought that they were pretty rich after all he and Dudley had always a lot of presents, his friends were jealous when he told them what he had gotten on his last birthday. Harry wasn't complaining he liked presents after all.

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache.

"Good morning, have you slept well?" His Uncle asks him.

"Yes, but I had a strange dream again this morning, I have trouble remembering it but I believe there was a flying motorcycle."

"Hmm, have you written it down in your new dream journal?" Harry wasn't a stranger to dreams. His Aunt has told him that she believed that some of the dreams he has may be real memories from his time when he was with his parents. His parents could do some strange and magical things after all. They decided that he would write down everything he remembers after he had dreamed, who knows maybe he would remember something from his parents. He already had completely filled in his first dream journal and had gotten a new one just last week.

"No not yet, I will after we eat and before we go to the Zoo. When will Piers be here?" Piers is Dudley's best friend and he will be going with them.

"He should be here at ten."

Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his head. Mrs. Dursley was thin, blond and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.

Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. In the meantime Dudley started to open presents.

At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking worried.

"Bad news, Dudley," she said. "Mrs. Figg's has broken her leg. She can't come to your party this evening."  
Mrs. Figg is a mad old lady who lived two streets away. The boys get sometimes dumped there when the Dursley's are away on business trips. Harry didn't really like it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made them look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. However she is a nice woman and having a broken leg is not a lot of fun.

"Is she alright? Does she need anything?" Harry felt sorry for her.

"No she doesn't need our help today, she says that she is still at the hospital and when she gets home she will go back to bed. She wishes you a happy birthday Dudley and she promised that she will come by to see you soon."

After breakfast Harry goes upstairs to write down his dream. He writes down what he remembers and stands up to get his old dream journal from his desk. He was right in thinking that he had dreamed about the flying motorcycle before. He had done so when he was four and one time when he was six. Was this just a dream or was it really a memory? What would it take to make something fly and would he be able to do it when he was older and able to do magic?

At ten o'clock Piers Polkiss walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. His mother stayed for a while drinking tea and then went home. At ten thirty Harry was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Piers and Dudley, on his way to the zoo for the third time in his life. While he drives Uncle Vernon talks to Aunt Petunia. He is the director of a firm called Grunnings, they make drills. He likes to talk about the people he knows from his work. More favorite talk subjects of his are the council and the bank. Harry wasn't really interested in what his uncle had to say and looks at his cousin. Dudley and Piers had there heads together and were snickering. Harry keeps silent and entertains himself the rest of the way by listening to the radio.

It is a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. At the entrance of the zoo they bought ice cream from the smiling lady behind the counter. All three boys decide to go for the large chocolate ice cream. Harry really loves chocolate, the ice is delicious and he is glad that he has made a good choose. They eat in the zoo restaurant at midday were they get even more ice when they order Knickerbockers glory. After lunch they go to the reptile house. This is Harry's favorite place in the zoo.

Inside it is cool and dark, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes are crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley quickly finds the largest snake in the place. The snake was long enough that it could easily wrap its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crush it into a trash can but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

Harry was staring at the glistening brown coils of the Boa Constrictor. The last time he was here he had a conversation with the snake. It is a pity that it is sleeping now. Maybe he could talk to another snake but he has to remember to be careful nobody else must notice what he is doing. Nobody else seems to be able to talk to snakes even the magical people, it's probably a gift he had inherited from one of his parents or he was just special and the only one that could. The Dursley's and Piers were already moving on but Harry really wanted to talk to the same snake he had spoken to before.

He tapped on the glass and the snake starts to move. Was the last time just a fluke or did it really happen? He would find out now. The snake opens its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on level with Harry's.

"You again?" It hissed. Harry quickly looks around to see if anyone is watching. They weren't. He looks back at the snake. He really could talk to snakes!

"Hi, how are you doing still bored like last time?"

"Yes there isn't much to do here I'm sleeping most of the time. Say can't you come by more often. I like having a conversation with someone else I'm a bit lonely here."

"Sorry I can't stay much longer. My family will miss me if I don't hurry." True for the Dursley's had almost reached the corner and would soon be out of sight.

"Bye! Maybe I come back one day and see you again." Harry runs to get back to his family before they notice him missing. It is almost time to go home. They had to prepare the party for the evening. A lot of people would be coming. Harry couldn't wait to see the reactions of the people that try out his food.

**A/n This stays a one-shot for now; more chapters may follow when I have more time and still an interest in continuing it. **


End file.
